Automatic discovery and enforcement of service level agreement settings

ABSTRACT

A method of automatically detecting the service level agreement settings in an Ethernet virtual circuit (EVC) carrying user packets comprises generating synthetic packets different from the user packets, on a data path in the EVC at a level sufficiently high to saturate the EVC. This accelerates the detection of actual effective values for the Committed Information Rate (CIR) and the Excess Information Rate (EIR) by triggering traffic shaping devices in the data path to enforce the CIR and EIR settings configured for those devices. A plurality of traffic samples are collected from the data path during a sampling period that is long enough to allow the collection of at least two valid traffic samples, where a valid traffic sample is the amount of user packets measured between two consecutive losses of synthetic packets. The CIR and EIR values enforced by the traffic shaping devices are determined from the collected samples.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed towards the detection of service levelagreements in an Ethernet virtual circuit environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A service-level agreement (SLA) is a part of a service contract wherethe level of service is formally defined. As an example, internetservice providers can include service level agreements within the termsof their contracts with customers to define the level(s) of servicebeing sold. In this case the SLA will typically have a technicaldefinition in terms of mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time torepair or mean time to recovery (MTTR), various data rates, throughput,jitter, or similar measurable details.

In an Ethernet Virtual Circuit environment, the enforcement of bandwidthquotas as part of a Service Level Agreement requires administrativeefforts to propagate the settings into the devices enforcing the SLA.Adding a new device responsible to verify and enforce the SLA typicallyrequires administrative and management steps before the SLA can bemonitored and enforced.

In order for a device to enforce SLA settings, the actual CommittedInformation Rate (CIR) and the Excess Information Rate (EIR) must beexplicitly defined. CIR is the average bandwidth for a virtual circuitguaranteed by an internet service provider to work under normalconditions. At any given time, the bandwidth should not fall below thiscommitted figure. The bandwidth is usually expressed in kilobits persecond (kbit/s). Above the CIR, an allowance of burstable bandwidth isoften given, whose value can be expressed in terms of additional rate,known as the EIR. The provider guarantees that the connection willalways support the CIR rate, and sometimes the EIR rate provided thatthere is adequate bandwidth. The Peak Information Rate (PIR), which isthe CIR plus excess burst rate (EIR), is either equal to or less thanthe speed of the access port into the network.

When inserting a new device (such as a Network Interface Device or NID)in an existing network to verify and enforce the SLA settings, it isusually required to propagate the CIR and EIR values, adding to themanagement burden and possibly creating a potential for discrepancieswhen the CIR and EIR need to be updated for many different devices, eachwith their respective management interfaces.

The RFC 2544 standard, established by the Internet Engineering TaskForce (IETF) standards body, is the de facto methodology that outlinesthe tests required to measure and prove performance criteria for carrierEthernet networks. The standard provides an out-of-service benchmarkingmethodology to evaluate the performance of network devices usingthroughput, loopback, frame loss and latency tests, with each testvalidating a specific part of an SLA. The methodology defines the framesize, test duration and number of test iterations. Once completed, thesetests provide performance metrics of the Ethernet network under test.

RFC 2544 and other similar standards aimed at detecting a packet losssituation, gradually increase the amount of synthetic traffic generateduntil a packet loss is detected. This process may take a significantamount of time for each Ethernet Virtual Circuit (EVC) being tested.Packet loss occurs when one or more packets of data travelling across acomputer network fail to reach their destination. Packet loss isdistinguished as one of the three main error types encountered indigital communications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one embodiment, a method of automatically detectingthe service level agreement (SLA) settings in an Ethernet virtualcircuit (EVC) carrying user packets comprises generating syntheticpackets different from the user packets, on a data path in the EVC at alevel sufficiently high to saturate the EVC. This accelerates thedetection of actual effective values for the Committed Information Rate(CIR) and the Excess Information Rate (EIR) by triggering trafficshaping devices in the data path to enforce the CIR and EIR settingsconfigured for the traffic shaping devices. A plurality of trafficsamples are then collected from the data path during a sampling periodthat is long enough to allow the collection of at least two validtraffic samples, where a valid traffic sample is the amount of userpackets measured between two consecutive losses of synthetic packets.The CIR and EIR values enforced by the traffic shaping devices are thendetermined from the collected traffic samples.

In one implementation, the CIR and EIR values enforced by the trafficshaping devices are determined by analyzing each valid sample todetermine the maximum number of consecutive data bytes in each validtraffic sample, which is the sum of the CIR and EIR, and thensubtracting from that sum the smallest number of data bytes in any ofthe collected sample, which is CIR, to determine the remainingdifference, which is EIR. The actual user traffic and the synthetictraffic preferably both comprise data packets.

It is an objective of this embodiment to automatically detect the SLAsettings and enforce them once detected. It is also an objective toadjust the SLA settings to changing network conditions without the needto propagate new SLA values to monitoring and enforcement devices.Furthermore, the detection of the SLA settings should be possible atService Activation and anytime while In Service.

The embodiment allows a device to monitor traffic flows and determinethe value of the Committed Information Rate (CIR) and Excess InformationRate (EIR) based on the amount of data that can be measured during asampling period. In order to obtain the maximum values defined for theCIR and the EIR, it is preferable to generate a high level of traffic inorder to trigger other traffic shaping devices in the data path toenforce their CIR and EIR settings, in order to accelerate the detectionof the CIR and EIR values already configured for the other devices.

Such an automatic detection is useful for devices such as NIDs when theyare installed in a network during the initial activation of the Ethernetservice on an EVC. The automatic detection is also of interest for anactive EVC where it is desirable to detect the effective CIR and EIRvalues.

When discovering the effective CIR and EIR values during the activationof an Ethernet service on an EVC, a traffic generator is used (typicallyanother NID) to generate synthetic traffic (instead of user or realtraffic to be found once the Ethernet service is activated) at a highenough throughput level to saturate the EVC and trigger the trafficshaping by at least one other device upstream of the device attemptingto determine the effective values for the CIR and the EIR. The trafficgenerator immediately saturates the EVC in order to accelerate thedetection of the correct effective values for the CIR and the EIR.

In the embodiment described above, in order to determine the effectivevalues of the CIR and of the EIR, the device performing the detectioncollects a plurality of samples during a sampling period. The durationof the sampling may be arbitrary, but is long enough to allow thecollection of at least two valid samples. The higher the number ofsamples, the higher the precision of the effective values determined forthe CIR and the EIR.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by reference to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a basic ethernet network during the initialactivation of an EVC where synthetic traffic is used to determine theeffective value of the CIR and EIR.

FIG. 2 illustrates a sampling period with a plurality of valid samples.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the collecting of valid samples during the EVCactivation.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the calculation of the effective values of theCIR and EIR.

FIG. 5 illustrates a basic ethernet network for an active EVC wheresynthetic traffic is added to user traffic to determine the effectivevalue of the CIR and EIR.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the collecting of valid samples for an activeEVC made up of user and synthetic packets.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Although the invention will be described in connection with certainpreferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is notlimited to those particular embodiments. On the contrary, the inventionis intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalentarrangements as may be included within the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

When activating a new Ethernet Virtual Circuit (EVC), it is useful to beable to determine the overall performance achievable on the EVC and tomake sure the actual Committed Information Rate (CIR) and the actualExcess Information Rate (EIR) are in line with the settings configuredfor other upstream devices (from the point of view of the measuringdevice, for instance a NID). Once an EVC is in service, it is alsodesirable to make sure that the actual effective CIR and EIR are stillmet. Finally, it is desirable to detect any degradation (temporary orpermanent) in the EVC performance and to adjust the CIR and EIR valuesto get the most out of the achievable bandwidth for the EVC.

During a sampling period, a valid sample is defined as the amount oftraffic measured between two (2) consecutive packet loss indications. Afirst packet loss indication will indicate that the CIR and EIR valuesat an upstream device have reached zero (0) and is used to timestamp thebeginning of a first sample. A next packet loss indication will indicatethat the CIR and EIR values have once again reached a value of zero (0),indicating that the CIR and EIR buckets have been emptied again. Itshould be noted that the packet loss that marks the end of a sample alsomarks the beginning of the next sample.

Once a sampling period is completed, each valid sample is analyzed tocalculate the maximum number of consecutive bytes that were received asthe sum of the CIR and EIR. The CIR is set to the smallest number ofbytes in the samples collected.

The sampling process may be repeated at regular or random intervals tovalidate the previous calculations and to adjust to changing effectivevalues for the CIR and the EIR. A negative change in the value of theCIR and EIR may be indicative of a network degradation (temporary orpermanent), for instance in a wireless (e.g. microwave) network impactedby weather conditions.

The calculated operation values of the CIR and EIR may be reported to(or retrieved by) an external management entity for further use,alerting or reporting.

FIG. 1 is a simple ethernet network 100 with a data source device 110and a data sink device 120. Between devices 110 and 120, a synthetictraffic generator 105 is installed on the same side as the data sourcedevice 110 relative to the position of the Ethernet network 100 and anSLA discovery node 109 is installed on the opposite side relative to theposition of the Ethernet network 100 and upstream from the data sinkdevice 120. During the ethernet service activation, a number ofsynthetic packets (not real user traffic) are generated by device 105and transmitted at the highest possible rate to the SLA discovery node109 across the ethernet network 100 with the goal to exceed the CIR andEIR values defined for the bandwidth shaping device or devices installedas part of network 100. Synthetic packets 141, 142, 143 and 144 includea unique and consecutive sequence number 150 and a pre-agreed number ofbytes 151 in the payload 152 portion of the synthetic packet. Thesynthetic packets received by the SLA discovery node 109 are analyzed aspart of the determination of the value of the CIR and EIR as furtherdescribed in this embodiment. After analysis by the SLA discovery node109, the synthetic packets are discarded.

FIG. 2 illustrates a saved packet stream 230 made up of samples 201,202, 203, 204, 205 for an arbitrary sampling period beginning on thestarting timestamp 200 and ending on the ending timestamp 210. Theduration of a sampling period is long enough to collect at least 2 validsamples or more, where a valid traffic sample is the amount of trafficmeasured between two consecutive losses of synthetic traffic. The highernumber of samples collected, the more precise the CIR and EIR. It ispreferable to schedule a sampling period (starting timestamp 200 toending timestamp 210) at regular or random intervals rather than usingvery large sampling periods. Within the period between startingtimestamp 200 and ending timestamp 210, a number of samples are present.Each valid sample begins on a packet loss event and ends on thefollowing packet loss event. Sample 1 201 is invalid since it begins onan arbitrary starting timestamp 200 which cannot be guaranteed to beginon a packet loss event. Sample 2 202 begins on packet loss event 221 andends on packet loss event 222. The next valid sample 3 203 begins onpacket loss event 222 and ends on packet loss event 223. The followingsample 4 204 is also valid and begins on packet loss event 223 and endson packet loss event 224. The last sample 5 205 beginning on packet lossevent 224 is invalid because it does not include the next packet lossevent since the sampling period terminated (timed out) before the nextpacket loss event took place.

FIG. 3 illustrates how samples (201, 202, 203, 204, 205) are collected.For the sampling period (starting on timestamp 200 and ending ontimestamp 210), an SLA discovery node 109 will perform the followingtasks. During the initialization step 301, a sample index “i” isinitialized to zero (0), a packet loss indicator (PKT_LOSS) is set tozero (0), the number of bytes (NUM_BYTES) counter for the current sampleis initialized to zero (0) and a sampling timeout is started. The methodthen proceeds with step 302 to wait for the reception of the firstsynthetic packet. In step 303, the first packet is exclusively used toobtain the sequence number 150 of the synthetic packet and calculate thevalue of the next expected synthetic packet (Next_Seq) by incrementingthe extracted sequence number by one (1). In step 304, the SLA discoverynode 109 waits for the next packet or the end of the sampling period. Instep 305, the sequence number 150 of the newly received synthetic packetis verified against the expected sequence number calculated in step 303.If there is a match 306, there is no packet loss and the value ofNUM_BYTES is incremented by the number of bytes in the synthetic packet.The expected sequence number (Next_Seq) in incremented by one (1) tohelp determine if the next synthetic packet is lost. If the validationof the sequence number 150 during step 305 fails, this is indicative ofa packet loss and this will mark the boundary of a sample (202, 203,204, 205). A packet loss condition is determined by a negative result ofthe check to determine if the sampling period is terminated. If thesampling period is not yet terminated, step 307 will be followed by step308. Otherwise, if the sampling period is terminated, the analysis ofthe collected samples will take place as per step 320 which is furtherillustrated by FIG. 4. Step 308 will determine if the packet loss eventis the first one. If this is the first packet loss event, the methodproceeds with step 309. As part of step 309, the first packet loss eventindicates that the beginning of the first valid sample is detected and avalid sample is created with the beginning value of the sample definedby a timestamp of the current time. The number of bytes for this firstvalid packet is used to initialize the NUM_BYTES counter for this firstsample. The sequence number of the next expected packet (Next_Seq) isalso calculated. Finally, the PKT_LOSS indicator is incremented toindicate that the first packet loss event has been detected. This isimportant since every other packet loss event detected will serve as theend time of the current sample and as the beginning time of the nextsample. Looking at step 310, the packet loss event represents the endtime of the current sample. The end time of the current sample is set toa timestamp of the current time. The number of bytes in the sample isset to the value of NUM_BYTES counter. The sampling index is thenincremented by 1 and the next sample beginning time (Sample[i].begin) isset to a timestamp of the current time. The NUM_BYTES counter isinitialized to the number of bytes in the packet that represents thefirst valid packet in the new sample. The number of samples(Num_Samples) is incremented by one (1). Finally, the sequence number ofthe next expected packet (Next_Seq) is also calculated by incrementingthe sequence number 150 of the current packet by one (1). Once steps 309or 310 are completed, the sampling process resumes at step 304 to waitfor the next packet in the sampling period or the end of the samplingperiod.

FIG. 4 illustrates how the collected samples from a packet stream 230are processed to determine the actual CIR and EIR values. Step 401resets the CIR and EIR to zero (0) and the index ‘i’ used to navigatethrough the set of collected samples is also set to zero (0). Step 402is used to determine whether the index ‘i’ has cycled through all of thecollected samples. If there are more samples to analyze, the methodcontinues with step 403. Otherwise, when all samples have been analyzed,the CIR and EIR values have been determined and the analysis process iscompleted (step 420). At step 403, the traffic rate (Temp_rate) for thecurrent sample is obtained by dividing the total number of bytesreceived in the current sample by the duration of the sample. Theduration of the sample is obtained by deducting the starting timestampfrom the ending timestamp for the sample. The sample index ‘i’ is thenincremented by 1 to be ready to process the next sample (if any). Atstep 404, a check is made if this is the first sample to be analyzedfrom the sampling period. A CIR of zero (0) will be indicative of thiscondition. If this is the first sample, the next step will be step 405.Otherwise, this is not the first sample and the next step will be step406. During step 405, the CIR value is set to the Temp-rate valuecalculated for the current sample. Processing then continues with step402. During step 406, the rate of the current sample (Temp_rate) isverified against the current value of the CIR. If Temp_rate is lowerthan the CIR, the next step 407 is used to adjust the EIR as theprevious value of the EIR plus the value of the CIR minus the value ofTemp_rate. Basically, the previously larger value of CIR (when comparedagainst the current Temp_rate) actually included some packets that werein excess of the CIR and therefore allowed based on the value of theEIR. Step 407 will then set the CIR to the value of the Temp_rate andprocessing will resume at step 402. Otherwise, if the Temp_rate is notlower than the CIR, processing will move to step 408. At step 408, theTemp_rate value is compared to the sum of the CIR and EIR. If it isgreater, processing moves to step 409. Otherwise, if it is lower, theanalysis of the current sample is completed and processing moves to step402. At step 409, the value of EIR needs to be adjusted upward since thelarger Temp_rate value representing a higher traffic rate indicates thatmore traffic was allowed by a larger value of EIR. The value of EIR isobtained by subtracting the value of CIR from the value of Temp_rate.

FIG. 5 is a replication of FIG. 1 for an ethernet network that is now inservice and may therefore carry user traffic. In this figure, syntheticpackets 541, 542, and 543 also have a unique and consecutive sequencenumber and a pre-agreed number of bytes in the payload portion of thesynthetic packet. The user packets and the synthetic packets received bydevice 109 are analyzed as part of the determination of the value of theCIR and EIR as further described in this disclosure (see FIG. 6). Afteranalysis by SLA discovery node 109, the synthetic packets are discardedby SLA discovery node 109. User packets 531, 532 and 533 are also usedto determine the real value of the CIR and EIR but are then forwardedtoward the data sink device 120 by SLA discovery node 109. Since onlySynthetic packets 541, 542 and 543 carry a sequence number 150 usablefor the purpose of detecting a packet loss condition, user packets willnever be used to detect a packet loss condition.

FIG. 6 is an extension of the method described by FIG. 3 and illustrateshow, for an In Service ethernet network 100, samples (201, 202, 203,204, 205) made up of user packet and of synthetic packets are collected.For the sampling period (starting on timestamp 200 and ending ontimestamp 210), an SLA discovery node 109 will perform the followingtasks. During the initialization step 601, a sample index “i” isinitialized to zero (0), a packet loss indicator (PKT_LOSS) is set tozero (0), the number of bytes (NUM_BYTES) counter for the current sampleis initialized to zero (0) and a sampling timeout is started. The methodthen proceeds with step 602 to wait for the reception of the firstsynthetic packet (a user packet does not carry a usable sequence numberand cannot be used to detect a packet loss condition). In step 603, thefirst synthetic packet 541 is exclusively used to obtain the sequencenumber of the synthetic packet and calculate the value of the nextexpected synthetic packet (Next_Seq) by incrementing the extractedsequence number by one (1). In step 604, the SLA discovery node 109waits for the next packet (user or synthetic) or the end of the samplingperiod. In step 605, there is a check to determine if it is a userpacket or, in the case of a synthetic packet, if the sequence number 150of the newly received synthetic packet matches the expected sequencenumber calculated in step 603. If there is a match or it is a userpacket, there is no packet loss and the value of NUM_BYTES isincremented by the number of bytes in the packet (user or synthetic). Ifit is not a user packet, the expected sequence number (Next_Seq) inincremented by one (1) to help determine if the next synthetic packet islost. If the validation of the sequence number 150 during step 605fails, this is indicative of a packet loss and this will mark theboundary of a sample. A packet loss condition is determined by anegative result of the check to determine if the sampling period isterminated. If the sampling period is not yet terminated, step 607 willbe followed by step 608. Otherwise, if the sampling period isterminated, the analysis of the collected samples will take place as perstep 620 which is further illustrated by FIG. 4. Step 608 will determineif the packet loss event is the first one. If this is the first packetloss event, the method proceeds with step 609. As part of step 609, thefirst packet loss event indicates that the beginning of the first validsample is detected and a valid sample is created with the beginningvalue of the sample defined by a timestamp of the current time. Thenumber of bytes for this first valid packet is used to initialize theNUM_BYTES counter for this first sample. The sequence number of the nextexpected packet (Next_Seq) is also calculated. Finally, the PKT_LOSSindicator is incremented to indicate that the first packet loss eventhas been detected. This is important since every other packet loss eventdetected will serve as the end time of the current sample and as thebeginning time of the next sample. Looking at step 610, the packet lossevent represents the end time of the current sample. The end time of thecurrent sample is set to a timestamp of the current time. The number ofbytes in the sample is set to the value of NUM_BYTES counter. Thesampling index is then incremented by 1 and the next sample beginningtime (begin) is set to a timestamp of the current time. The NUM_BYTEScounter is initialized to the number of bytes in the packet thatrepresents the first valid packet in the new sample. Finally, thesequence number of the next expected packet (Next_Seq) is alsocalculated by incrementing the sequence number 150 of the current packetby one (1). Once steps 609 or 610 are completed, the sampling processresumes at step 604 to wait for the next packet in the sampling periodor the end of the sampling period.

When calculating the real value of the Committed Information Rate (CIR)and of the Excess Information Rate (EIR), the analysis method may savethe previously calculated values of the CIR and EIR (as obtained from aprevious sampling period) and report any variation of the CIR and EIR toa management entity. A positive variation of the CIR would be indicativeof an improvement of the performance of the network. A negativevariation of the CIR would be indicative of a degradation of theperformance of the network.

This invention may be used in a network that may suffer important andrelatively long outage and/or reduction in throughput due to adverseconditions. For instance, this is the case when microwave radio modulesare used to backhaul traffic for a cellular network or an Internetservice and the radio link is disrupted by heavy rain or snow. Once theweather conditions improve, the microware service will usually revertback to its normal throughput, but for the duration of the impairment,the value of the CIR and EIR defined in upstream devices may bepointless since they may be unachievable due to the degradation of thethroughput of the microwave link.

While particular embodiments and applications of the present inventionhave been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that theinvention is not limited to the precise construction and compositionsdisclosed herein and that various modifications, changes, and variationsmay be apparent from the foregoing descriptions without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

1-14. (canceled)
 15. A method of automatically detecting service levelagreement (SLA) settings comprising committed information rate (CIR) andexcess information rate (EIR) settings for a data path originating at adata source and terminating at a data sink, said data path carrying userpackets and comprising traffic shaping devices configured with said CIRand EIR settings in accordance with said SLA, said method comprisinggenerating synthetic packets, different from the user packets, on a saiddata path at a level that exceeds the CIR and EIR settings configuredfor the traffic shaping devices in said data path, said generating usedto accelerate detection of actual values for CIR and EIR by triggeringthe traffic shaping devices in said data path to enforce, in accordancewith said SLA, the CIR and EIR settings configured for said trafficshaping devices; collecting a plurality of traffic samples from saiddata path during a sampling period that is long enough to allow thecollection of at least two valid traffic samples, wherein each a validtraffic sample corresponds to an amount of user packets measured betweentwo consecutive losses of synthetic packets; and determining from thecollected traffic samples the actual CIR and EIR values enforced by saidtraffic shaping devices, wherein said determining comprises setting thevalue of a CIR associated with said sampling period to zero, setting thevalue of an EIR associated with said sampling period to zero, andanalyzing the collected valid traffic samples obtained for said samplingperiod.
 16. The method of claim 15 in which said CIR and EIR values aredetermined by analyzing each valid sample to determine a sum of theactual CIR and EIR based on the maximum number of consecutive data byteswithin each valid traffic sample, and then subtracting, from the sum,the actual CIR based on the smallest number of data bytes in any of thecollected samples, to obtain the actual EIR.
 17. The method of claim 15further comprising determining the value of the CIR and EIR settings.18. The method of claim 15 in which said SLA settings are detectedduring service activation of an Ethernet service associated with saiddata path.
 19. The method of claim 15 in which said SLA settings aredetected during in-service operation of an Ethernet service associatedwith said data path.
 20. The method of claim 15 in which said samplingperiod is bound by a starting sampling timestamp and an ending samplingtimestamp.
 21. The method of claim 20 in which said valid traffic samplebegins on a first packet loss indication and terminates on a secondpacket loss indication and includes a count of the total number of bytesreceived for the period between a pair of successive packet lossindications.
 22. The method of claim 21 in which said count of the totalnumber of bytes received is based on a sum of lengths in bytes of alluser packets and synthetic packets received in said valid sample. 23.The method of claim 21 in which said synthetic packets include sequencenumbers, and at least one of the corresponding first and second packetloss indications is determined by comparing the sequence number in asynthetic packet against an expected sequence number calculated as thevalue of the sequence number of the previous synthetic packetincremented by one.
 24. The method of claim 21 in which saidcorresponding second packet loss indication is used as an end timestampof a current traffic sample and where the same packet loss indication isused as a begin timestamp of the next traffic sample.
 25. The method ofclaim 20 in which said valid traffic sample includes: a begin timestamptaken after the starting sampling timestamp of said sampling period, andan end timestamp taken before the end sampling timestamp of saidsampling period.
 26. The method of claim 20 in which the calculatedtraffic rate of a valid traffic sample is determined by dividing thetotal number of bytes received during said traffic sample by thedifference between an end timestamp of said valid traffic sample and abegin timestamp of said valid traffic sample.
 27. The method of claim 21in which the calculated values of the CIR and the EIR for said samplingperiod are obtained by: determining whether the calculated value of theCIR is equal to zero and if it is, setting the value of the CIR to thevalue of the calculated traffic rate for the current traffic samplebeing analyzed; otherwise, determining if the calculated traffic ratefor said traffic sample is less than the calculated value of the CIR andif it is, calculating the effective value of the EIR by adding the valueof the CIR to the value of the EIR and deducting the value of thecalculated traffic rate for the current traffic sample being analyzed,and setting the value of the CIR to the value of the calculated trafficrate for said traffic sample; otherwise, if the calculated traffic ratefor said traffic sample is larger than the sum of the effective CIR andof the EIR, adjusting the effective value of the EIR for the saidsampling period to the difference between the effective data rate forsaid sample and the effective CIR for said sampling period.
 28. A methodof automatically detecting service level agreement (SLA) settingscomprising committed information rate (CIR) and excess information rate(EIR) settings for a data path originating at a data source andterminating at a data sink, said data path carrying user packets andcomprising traffic shaping devices configured with said CIR and EIRsettings in accordance with said SLA, said method comprising generatingsynthetic packets, different from the user packets, on said data path ata level that exceeds the CIR and EIR settings configured for the trafficshaping devices in said data path, said generating used to acceleratedetection of actual values for CIR and EIR by triggering the trafficshaping devices in said data path to enforce, in accordance with saidSLA, the CIR and EIR settings configured for said traffic shapingdevices; collecting a plurality of traffic samples from said data pathduring a sampling period that is long enough to allow the collection ofat least two valid traffic samples, wherein each valid traffic samplecorresponds to an amount of user packets measured between twoconsecutive losses of synthetic packets; further wherein each of saidvalid traffic samples begins on a corresponding first packet lossindication and terminates on a corresponding second packet lossindication and includes a count of the total number of bytes receivedfor the period between a pair of successive packet loss indications,wherein said count of the total number of bytes received is a sum oflengths in bytes of all user packets and synthetic packets received insaid valid sample; and determining from the collected traffic samplesthe actual CIR and EIR values enforced by said traffic shaping devices.29. The method of claim 28 in which said CIR and EIR values aredetermined by analyzing each valid sample to determine a sum of theactual CIR and EIR based on a maximum number of consecutive data bytesin each valid traffic sample, and then subtracting, from the sum, theactual CIR based on the smallest number of data bytes in any of thecollected samples, to obtain the actual EIR.
 30. The method of claim 28in which said sampling period is bound by a starting sampling timestampand an ending sampling timestamp.
 31. The method of claim 28 in whichsaid SLA settings are detected during service activation of an Ethernetservice associated with said data path.
 32. The method of claim 28 inwhich said SLA settings are detected during in-service operation of anEthernet service associated with said data path.
 33. A method ofautomatically detecting service level agreement (SLA) settingscomprising committed information rate (CIR) and excess information rate(EIR) settings for a data path originating at a data source andterminating at a data sink, said data path carrying user packets andcomprising traffic shaping devices configured with said CIR and EIRsettings in accordance with said SLA, said method comprising generatingsynthetic packets, different from the user packets, on said data path ata level that exceeds the CIR and EIR settings configured for the trafficshaping devices in said data path, said generating used to acceleratedetection of actual values for CIR and EIR by triggering the trafficshaping devices in said data path to enforce, in accordance with saidSLA, the CIR and EIR settings configured for said traffic shapingdevices; collecting a plurality of traffic samples from said data pathduring a sampling period that is long enough to allow the collection ofat least two valid traffic samples, wherein each valid traffic samplecorresponds to an amount of user packets measured between twoconsecutive losses of synthetic packets; further wherein each of saidvalid traffic samples begins on a corresponding first packet lossindication and terminates on a corresponding second packet lossindication and includes a count of the total number of bytes receivedfor the period between a pair of successive packet loss indications,wherein said synthetic packets include sequence numbers, and at leastone of the corresponding first and second packet loss indications isdetermined by comparing the sequence number in a synthetic packetagainst an expected sequence number; and determining from the collectedtraffic samples the actual CIR and EIR values enforced by said trafficshaping devices.
 34. The method of claim 33 further comprisingdetermining the value of the CIR and EIR settings.